Thursday, January 22, 2009

Photos from Ipoh

We're 5 days into the 10 day break already. Time really flies when you're doing stuff. Since arriving, we've been getting some of documents in order, doing some banking, and starting the Chinese New Year shopping (foodstuff). (Oh, we also woke up at 1am to watch Obama's inauguration speech.)

Richard and I are only back here once every few months so we're greeted by a huge stack of mail each time. We don't forward the mail to Indonesia because we wouldn't be able to do anything about it there anyway so it just piles up here and when we get back, we need to run all these errands.

In between all that, we've been spending time with my grandparents. I'm glad they are all looking good and seem happy.

Aaron has been having his fill of parks with Richard.

Here are some photos from the trip so far:

These shop houses are very common in the center of the city. Its sad that no restorative works are planned as they add character to an otherwise 'common' looking city.

And here is a strange shop that looks to be recently repainted. I haven't been inside so I don't know if their main product are potties from Chennai.

Remember how I mentioned that traffic will be horrendous during this Chinese New Year Period? Take a look at that blue car in the background. A lady and her two daughters, pulled up, got out, locked it and went inside one of the restaurants. She just left it there in the middle of the corner. Oh yes, take a look at where we're eating. It is very common in Malaysia for restaurants to put tables right on the roads.

Finally, here's a photo of what a daughter would look like if I ever had one. Behind 'her' is the pomelo that our family traditionally gives out to friends and relatives during Chinese New Year.

I always enjoy your photos and stories of the places you visit. And I know there must be a great story behind "Chennai Potty's" ... I'm just not sure I'm ready to hear it! Have a great visit, be safe, and continue to keep us entertained.

P.S. - the verification word is "dines" - got any of those pomelos left?

The Indonesian citizens are enough with most of big party politics. They want party politics that can be tested on “open dialog” and not just “party leader speech” and spreading banners.The community, raised by a fan of PNBK is searching for more and more party politics that are not afraid for open dialog. The PNBK has been thought for long as a simplest political party that promotes more on dialog than just a big open-day type of speech. The party popularity is getting dimmed by the dialog method that are not well covered in media due to lack of funding, yet it still continue its struggles by initiating low profile open dialogs in any small regions across Indonesia.http://pnbk-dialog.blogspot.com/

Pomelos......no, they aren't like grapefruit. You have to slit the skin so that you can peel it off like an orange. Then, it has a membrane around the edible bit. The taste is sort of bittersweet...and sometimes a little sourish. It doesn't sound nice but that mixture is pleasant overall. When eaten at exactly the right time, its extremely juicy. Its just hard to tell when that time is.